The former post office worker Luyanda Botha who raped and murdered 19 year-old University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana will serve three life sentences for the horrific crime, which made international headlines in August.

Botha was also slapped with five more years on a charge of defeating the ends of justice.

Botha who entered into a plea agreement with the state pleaded guilty to raping and killing Mrwetyana. According to news reports, the agreement stated that Botha will serve a life sentence for murder, two life sentences on both counts of rape, and five years for defeating the ends of justice.

He will not be eligible for parole for 25 years.

Graca Machel Remembering Uyinene

Uyinene’s brutal murder inside the Claremont Post Office shocked and terrified women all around the continent. After the rape and murder, her body was then hidden in the Clareinch Post Office safe in Claremont, Cape Town overnight before being taken to Lingelethu West the next day where Botha doused her body with an accelerant and set it alight.

The rape and murder of Uyinene led to numerous calls and demonstrations in South Africa for an end to sexual and gender-based violence.

Women in South Africa, and rights groups protested and pushed for decisive action from the private sector and the government towards the arrest and harsh prosecution of sexual assault and femicide perpetrators in the country.

The continued male perpetrated violence that has caused the deaths of an alarming number of women this year alone, and in the past few years is of grave concern and the South African government needs to address the matter with the seriousness it deserves.